Police arrested a Hollister man on a laundry list of felony
child molestation and sodomy counts for allegedly having sex with a
15-year-old boy over the course of several months.
Hollister – Police arrested a Hollister man on a laundry list of felony child molestation and sodomy counts for allegedly having sex with a 15-year-old boy over the course of several months.
Police arrested Elias Ruiz, 51, on Friday for 20 counts of felony lewd and lascivious acts with a minor, 20 counts of oral copulation with a minor and five counts of sodomy, according to Hollister Police Department spokesman George Ramirez.
“Like all sexual assault cases we are taking this very seriously,” Ramirez said. “It’s uncommon for one person to be charged with this many counts – it just doesn’t happen very often.”
Police were notified about the crimes by the victim’s mother, and after interviewing the victim last week Ruiz was arrested, according to Ramirez.
Ramirez said the victim knew Ruiz, but declined to comment on the nature of their relationship in order to protect the victim. Ruiz, who has never been arrested before, allegedly molested the boy at his home over the last several months, according to Ramirez. Ramirez said this case should serve as a reminder to parents to be vigilant.
“We can use something like this to remind parents to be involved in their children’s lives and to know who they are with and where they are,” Ramirez said.
While boys are just as likely to be the victims of a sexual predator as girls, it is often much more difficult for them to come forward, said Julie Roybal, a victim witness advocate with the San Benito County Victim Witness Center.
“(Boys) often times feel that they should have been able to stop it, to fight off the perpetrator,” Roybal said.
Roybal said some boys never report being molested because of the emotional trauma they often suffer.
“First of all they are humiliated and afraid, they don’t want any one to know what happened,” she said. “And they also feel guilty – like what happened is their fault.”
Ruiz is being held at the San Benito County Jail in lieu of $400,000, according to jail personnel. If convicted of a single count of felony sodomy, Ruiz could face up to eight years in prison, according to the California Penal Code.
